In 1911, the Wallins Creek Colliers Company opened the first mines in Harlan County for shipping, and on August 25th, 1911, shipped the first car of coal from Harlan County. The mine was located on Terry's Fork near Wallins Creek. That year, 25,840 tons of coal were shipped by rail from Harlan County. Output from the Harlan fields increased to 14.5 million tons in 1928, the peak year, produced by seventy-one mines exclusive of the wagon mines. Before the economic downturn of the coal industry, Harlan County coal mines produced an average of 10,000,000 tons of coal.